Rahul Gandhi Promises Simpler ‘GST 2.0’ if Congress is Voted To Power

New Delhi: New Delhi: In a bid to woo the trader community, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has promised to bring a simpler version of the Goods and Services Tax, which he has dubbed as GST 2.0.

“Gabbar Singh Tax and Demonetisation destroyed crores of jobs causing tremendous pain and badly damaging our economy. The Congress Party is committed to GST 2.0 - a single GST, with simple reporting,” he tweeted.

Gandhi has repeatedly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the BJP, for what he calls a shoddy implementation of the GST regime and has promised to overhaul it and reduce the number of tax slabs.

A short video clip attached with Gandhi’s tweet laid out the vision of the Congress version of the tax regime. In it, a disgruntled shopkeeper is told that if he votes for the Congress, he would have to file returns once a quarter instead of once a month and the E-way bill would also be done away with.

“Demonetisation and GST were just ways to rob poor, labourers, small traders; NYAY scheme will benefit them,” he said in Rajasthan on Thursday.

The Congress chief has earlier too promised that the different tax slabs under GST would be merged into a single slab if the Congress is voted to power.

Launched in 2017, the GST was initially hailed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biggest economic reform as it replaced more than a dozen central and state levies and unified the economy.

However, chaotic implementation and complexities - months after a shock ban on high-value bank currency aimed at unearthing untaxed wealth - badly hurt small businesses.

Simplification of GST collection had found a mention in both the BJP and Congress manifestoes as traders form a powerful voting bloc that neither party can ignore.